First thing’s first: Herro premier blog post!
And now, on to more important items.
Michael has been after me for quite a while to crochet someone to keep him company on his desk at work, but with the influx of new friend/family offspring born in 2013 (a very fertile year), I really haven’t had time. I finally got a break from the baby showers, so I trolled the internet for the perfect cubicle companion and found the pattern for Baby Panda & Lucky Bamboo by Josephine Wu of amorningcupofjo.
As soon as I saw it I knew this was The One. In fact, this fellow is so cute that I deemed him worthy of my very first Knot Yo Grandma blog post. Not only did this pattern have a giant-headed panda with a tiny adorable panda tail for its tiny adorable panda butt, but it also came with a pattern for the panda’s very own dinner/bamboo! Bamboo plants are very lucky in Asian cultures, and Michael had actually been wanting one for the office anyway. I was pleased to provide him with one that is unkillable.
The pattern was impressively detailed and contained a lot of photos. You can find it here.
Like all amigurumi, Fat-Headed Panda was crocheted in the round with super tight single crochets. Tight stitches were particularly important for this project because of the black yarn- white stuffing poking through black yarn is, simply put, fugly. Black yarn in general actually just sucks, I just haven’t worked with it much before so I never realized. Look at the below photo- can you count those black stitches? Yeah, neither could I.
I went with the pattern’s recommended Lily Sugar’n Cream cotton worsted weight yarn (except for the grey- that was Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton). I’m used to working with acrylic yarn, so this rough cotton stuff really hurt my fingers. However, it does come in some really great, bright colors and it’s relatively inexpensive, so I wouldn’t rule out using it again after my finger wounds scab over.
I was disproportionately excited to complete the cabesa and was tempted to give Michael a lone, fat panda head instead of the whole critter. I refrained.
Pinning and sewing this fellow together was actually kind of difficult- his body and limbs are tiny! Most of the amigurumi I’ve made in the past have been pretty big, at least 8” or taller. You might notice someone lurking in the blurred background of the above photo.
He is basically only good for napping, whining, and staring.
My excitement after finishing the panda head was nothing compared to my excitement after finishing the bamboo. There MAY have been some cheating going on- the pattern called for 13 or so little rocks to fill up the entire planter. I finished about 7 before I had an eff-this moment and filled the vase up with grey scrap yarn instead. I put the 7 rocks on top and VOILA you cannot tell I didn’t spend 2 hours hand making a vaseful of rocks.
Aren’t they the perfect cubicle mates?
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